Born on November 21, 1844 in Norfolk, England, Ada Cambridge (later known
as Ada Cross) migrated to Australia in 1870 a few weeks after marrying the Rev.
George Frederick Cross. There she would gain recognition as Australia's
first woman poet of note. She also is well known for her works of fiction
and two autobiographical works.
Many of her novels were serialized in Australian newspapers, and were never published in book form.
In 1875, her first novel Up the Murray appeared inThe Australasian but was
not published separately. In 1890 with the publication of A Marked Man,
her fame as a writer was established. Her other works include The Manor
House and Other Poems (1875), My Guardian (1877), Unspoken
Thoughts (1887), At Midnight and Other Stories (1897) and The
Hand in the Dark and Other Poems (1913).
In 1913, Ada and her husband returned to England, but after he died in 1917,
she returned to Australia. She died in Melbourne on July 19, 1926, survived by two children. A
street in the Canberra suburb of Cook is named in her honor.
